Much has been written about school administrators earning a master’s in business administration. Many argue that MBAs teach principals concepts of finance, organizational development and planning that can be applied towards the betterment of a school. Such schools as the University of Denver and Rice University have even developed MBA programs tailor-made for the needs of an educator. One topic that has not been explored is the benefits of a law degree for a school administrator.
Legal programs equip graduates with one skill, the ability to analyze law and practice law. When leading a school, school administrators need a complex understanding of education law, particularly the area of special education law. With the use of terms like IEP and ILP constantly being used in educational arenas and the possibility of having to physical restrain students, it is important that school administrators fully understand the legal concepts behind each one of these, or else they could possibly be exposing their school to a lawsuit.
The second benefit of a law degree is that it teaches one leadership skills, something lacking with a traditional master’s in education degree. All one simply has to do is look at the professional biographies of current school superintendents to see that many have legal training. Both of Denver Public School’s past Superintendents have legal degrees: Michael Bennet and Tom Boagsberg. These men are not the only examples, Jonathan Raymond the current Superintendent of Sacramento Public Schools, Mark Roosevelt formerly of Pittsburgh Public Schools, and Dr. David Cash of Santa Barbara Public Schools all have legal training. In fact, Dr. Cash is the only one of these five aforementioned men to have both the traditional doctorate of education (Ed.D.) and a law degree. All others solely possess the law degree. Some programs, like the Broad Fellowship for Urban Superintendents even look for non-traditional candidates, such as lawyers, who they can train to become School Superintendents.
However, there is a downside to having legal training as a school administrator. One will have a specialized knowledge for practicing law, not for understanding curriculum and instruction. This forces one to have to engage in more on-the job training in the nuances of the educational field.
All in all, there are many problems in the American education system that have manifested over the years. Making the switch to lawyers as a school administrator might be a solution to help alleviate some of these maladaptive behaviors that have developed.
References:
Dr. David Cash Named New Santa Barbara Public Schools’ New Superintendent. Available at http://santa-barbara-ca.parentclick.com/Chatter/507/Dr-David-Cash-Named-SantaBarbara School-Districts-New-Superintendent.xml.
The Broad Superintendents Academy. Available at http://www.broadacademy.org/.